Note 49 — Chapter I · THE GODLINGS OF NATURE.
Reading edition
Among high-caste Hindus no food which has remained in the house during an eclipse of the sun or moon can be eaten; it must be given away, and all earthen vessels in use in the house at the time must be broken. Mr. Conway49 takes this to mean that “the eclipse was to have his attention called by outcries and prayers to the fact that if it was fire he needed there was plenty on earth; and if food, he might have all in the house, provided he would consent to satisfy his appetite with articles of food less important than the luminaries of heaven.” The observance is more probably based on the idea of ceremonial pollution caused by the actual working of demoniacal agency.